Snap couldn't keep himself completely calm. Every so often, the heart monitor would start to pick up. Stress and fear dominated his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about what might be happening with Rudy. He really wanted to do something to help. The frustration plagued his mind, increasing his headache, something he didn't need in addition to the pain he was feeling.
It had taken a while, but the pain from his injuries started to register in his head again. He could feel the pain in his hand now. It felt burning almost. Even though it was bandaged, it still hurt him and he rarely moved that hand. The slightest movement caused him pain. And that wasn't getting into his back injury. He felt like someone took a rake and slowly cut him open. Laying down on his back really hurt him like nothing else, forcing him to lay on his side to avoid the pain.
And then there were his legs. He had seen there were bandages on his feet but he didn't know why, at least not at first. As his memories came back, he remembered that his feet were burned by vinegar. He remembered how much pain he was in from that, how much it hurt to put pressure on his feet. For the time being, he couldn't feel them, but the reason was much worse than a burn.
He could barely move his legs, if it all. Maybe a centimeter to the right or left. And he had no feeling in them. He felt almost like half of him was cut off. He was feeling nothing from his hips down. Not even the heavy blanket that covered them.
The idea of losing the ability to walk scared him. What kind of life would he have if he couldn't even do the simplest tasks without assistance anymore? He didn't want to burn someone else into helping him. He wanted to do things on his own. Yet that would become difficult if he loses his legs. And given his condition, that was a very real possibility.
The pain in his head reminded him of the cause of all this. The mind control nail that was still in his head. The signal was blocked, freeing him of the nightmare of being controlled against his will. But that did not undo the damage that was already done. His brain had been harmed by this device, and it was really reflecting in the worst ways possible. Having a seizure was terrifying, but then learning he lost the use of his legs shortly after because of it was even scarier.
His mental state had taken a toll. He tried to fight it, but he still experienced blank moments once in a while, where he would lose all his senses and feel like he was trapped in a black void. It was absolutely awful, and he couldn't do a thing about it.
His only chance was with this hospital. He had to remain here until they got the thing out of his head, and even after that, he still needed to rest and heal up. There was a deep hole in his skull, put there by Mr. Cosmo. And that had to be fixed up before he was allowed release. Leaving it there would only create problems in the long run, and leave his brain more vulnerable to infection.
As he thought about the possibility of brain infection, he remembered the one he already had. His body was fighting against a deadly infection from his wounds which were never treated properly. They coursed through his body, poisoning his blood and causing his temperature to raise. His body was trying to fight the infection, but the electric torture device damaged his immune system, weakening it to less than half of its original strength.
To even have a chance to fight off the infection, Snap had to be put on some IV fluids, filled with germ-fighting medicine to try to kill off the bacteria that infested his body. In addition to that, they also gave him some medicine to bring down his fever, which was dangerously high, a few degrees above the safe level.
The doctors can't operate on him until his fever goes down. And they weren't sure how long that would take. They were worried that it might be too late by the time his fever does go down. That wasn't the news he wanted to hear, and it only served to make him feel more afraid.
But not just afraid. Angry. He was angry that this had happened to him. He hadn't done anything to deserve something like this. He hadn't earned the loss of his legs, or his mind. Along with Rudy, he had been helping ChalkZone, willingly putting himself in the line of fire if it meant saving someone else. That was the kind of person he was. He liked to help people. So how was it that a person like him was dealt such a cruel fate?
And bothering him just as much was Rudy. He didn't want to remain laying here in bed. He wanted to be there for Rudy, to help him in his time of need. Snap hated feeling useless. He hated that his friend had to worry over him so much, fearing for his safety. Snap wanted to be the one to comfort Rudy. He wanted to be the one who help him out of this pickle.
Yet he could do nothing. Without being able to feel or move his legs...what use was he? He couldn't crawl all the way to the Chalk Mine. That would be the worst thing he could possibly do, especially in his delicate situation. And even if he tried, Rapsheeba or Wilter would just bring him back. He had a feeling that, if they had to, they would strap him down.
The thought of them being forced to strap him to the hospital bed sent chills down his spine, as it brought forth memories of when the device was put into his head. It was bad enough that Mr. Cosmo wanted to put it in his head to start with. But the fact that he used water...he could still feel the burning in his head as the water cut into him.
If Cosmo wanted to show Snap just how cruel he could be, he did a very good job of it. His cold laughter, him muffling his cries of pain, driving the nail into his already burning head, all this showed just what kind of monster he was. And if he could do that to him without showing any sign of remorse, just what else was this guy capable of?
That was all the more reason for him to want to leave this hospital and go help Rudy. There was no way he could do it, and he couldn't even begin to try. But the thought was tempting. He was even considering getting on Tsere and having him carry him all the way to the Chalk Mine. Even though he was hurt, he was still one extra person Cosmo had to deal with, and one person could make all the difference.
But Mr. Wilter was right. He couldn't just get up and leave, not in his condition. If he got seriously hurt hauling himself towards danger, or even killed in the midst of it, Rudy would be absolutely devastated...
And not just Rudy. Penny, Rapsheeba, every one of his other friends...they'd all be heartbroken if he didn't pull through. He knew he had to listen to Wilter's advice and stay here and get better. Him recovering would lift everyone's spirits. It would make them feel better. And while it wasn't as dramatic as saving Rudy from Cosmo, it would still be impacting.
"Hey Snap..."
Snap turned his eyes to see Rapsheeba walking up to the side of his bed. Mr. Wilter was nowhere to be seen. Rapsheeba placed a hand on his uninjured one.
"Hello, Rapsheeba." Snap tried to smile the best he could. Smiling through the pain was difficult.
"How are you feeling?" Rapsheeba asked, biting her lip.
Snap flinched and said, "It still feels like my back is being cut up by a sharp stick. And I'm so cold..." With that, he pulled the blankets a bit further up his body in an attempt to get warm. "So in short, I'm still miserable and I don't feel that much better..."
Rapsheeba nodded in understanding. She sat down on the bed, careful not to aggravate Snap's injuries. "I was told that...no matter how soon they remove whatever it is in your head...you might still..." Rapsheeba's eyes started to water.
Snap widened his eyes. "I what? I might still what?" He asked, his voice filled with dread.
"You might still...not fully recover..." Rapsheeba choked out, squeezing his hand tightly. "There's...so much damage... The doctors aren't sure if you'll bounce back, no matter how much time you are given... They're still...willing to try though..." She attempted to smile at that, obviously wanting to bring some glimmer of hope to Snap.
Snap's body froze at what Rapsheeba said. He could barely register any attempt Rapsheeba did to make him feel better. The only thing he could hear in his head, over and over, was the possibility that he might still not recover. Even if the device was removed right this second, the damage was so severe already, there might be little to no chance of him recovering...
He felt himself start to shiver harder, and he knew it wasn't from the cold. The horrible realization, that he may never feel or use his legs again, washed over him heavily. His mind was numb. He couldn't think of anything, nothing except the fact that he may never, ever recover from this.
It couldn't be true..no it couldn't be... He wouldn't allow it to be... He would...he would recover. He just had to believe it... When the device is removed, he will prove the doctors wrong. He would walk again. He would stop having seizures. He would get feeling back in his leg.
He would be just fine.
Rapsheeba sniffled and wiped away a tear. "I'm...sorry I had to tell you that... The doctors weren't going to tell you. They were worried that.."
She couldn't finish, but Snap understood what she was going to say. The doctors weren't telling him because they feared of his reaction. With all the stress he was under, his weakening physical condition, the news may have made things worse for him.
Yet he understood why Rapsheeba told him. Keeping such a thing a secret must have been horrible for her. Rapsheeba wasn't the type of person to keep things from other people, especially if it was something so dreadfully important like this. She may have just found out a few minutes ago, when she left with Mr. Wilter a little while ago to use the restroom. And even though the doctors didn't want him to know, she told him anyway.
He was glad she did. Knowing might be scary, but not knowing was scarier. There was no doubt in his head it was a truly frightening situation. He didn't know how well he'd just to having no working legs. He couldn't imagine not being able to have fun with Rudy and Penny anymore. He didn't want to spend his time pushing himself on some wheelchair when, just a few days ago, he could, if he really wanted to, frolick in the fields like some insanely happy deer.
"It's...it's okay Rapsheeba..." Snap said in a soft voice. "I'm..glad you told me. I appreciate it. R-Really.."
Rapsheeba smiled at him. She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to go get a drink of water... I'll be right back."
"Okay..." Snap said.
As he watched her leave, his thoughts went back to knowing versus not knowing. His thoughts soon went to Ms. Saffron. He wondered what had happened to her. He had tried asking Mr. Wilter, but he had no clue. The last time he remembered seeing her, he was still in that awful cell, and it sounded like he was getting through to her.
He wondered if she finally believed him when he said he was real. He wondered if she had finally turned her back on Mr. Cosmo and made her own choices. He did want to speak to her again. There was something about her that he liked. After all of this was said and done, he did want to get to know her more.
He laid his head down. He wanted to get some rest. Even though the pain made it hard for him to sleep, he had to try. It would definitely help his body begin recovering if he got some rest.
As he settled down, attempting to get some sleep, he heard the door creak open. He didn't bother looking. He knew it was just going to be one of the doctors, Rapsheeba, or even Wilter. He kept his back turned to the door, looking towards the window as he slowly closed his eyes. The footsteps came ever closer, and he realized they were too heavy to be Rapsheeba, so it had to be Mr. Wilter.
He opened an eye to see there was a shadow being cast on his body. Must be the position of the lights. Though he couldn't understand why Mr. Wilter hadn't spoken a word yet. Wait, why was he wondering that? Mr. Wilter knew he needed rest. He was just checking on him, making sure he was okay.
Snap felt a hand touch his shoulder lightly. He let out a mumble and twisted away from the hand.
"Go away.." He mumbled. "Trying to sleep..."
"Sleep? Now? But why, little boy? It is such a...beautiful day outside.."
Snap's eyes popped open. That cold voice...No..not here... It couldn't be... He turned his head so he could look up at the intruder. As soon as he did, a hand clamped down onto his mouth, silencing his alarmed screaming. The heart monitor was going crazy, beeping like an alarm as his heartbeat increased.
This quickly came to a stop, and it didn't take long for Snap to realize why. Mr. Cosmo had swiftly unhooked him from the machine...as well as yanked out all the IVs that were hooked up to him.
"No no..." Mr. Cosmo grinned. "We musn't bother the other patients...that would be rude." He put a finger to his lips and made a shush sound. "Quiet..."
Snap tried to struggle. He started to hit Mr. Cosmo's hand with his uninjured one, slamming against it in vain. Cosmo responded by gripping his injured hand as hard as he could and pressing it against the bed. The pain was enough to force Snap to let go.
Cosmo leaned forward, putting his face close to Snap's. "You're...going on a little ride..."
Snap's eyes widened in fear as he felt himself being picked up from the bed.
sss
Penny could not believe this was really happening. Never once did she believe she would fight Rudy..not like this...
Sure they had their spats in the past. They argued. That's what friends do. Friends don't always see eye to eye. She remembered the robot they collaborated on together, but they had a disagreement on what the robot's features should be and agreed to separate. They got over it not long afterward.
But this...this was different...
She was not arguing with Rudy. She wasn't shouting at him about something he did, or disagreeing with his next course of action. This wasn't some petty argument that they'd get over a few minutes later and everything would be fine and dandy.
No, this was an all out fight. A duel, with her life on the line. Rudy was actively trying to kill her... No it wasn't Rudy...It was the horrid evil that came from the black chalk. Whatever it was doing to Rudy's mind...it was horrible... Rudy had clearly lost the fight against it, and now the black chalk was using Rudy as a puppet, just like how Mr. Cosmo forced Snap to fight them.
"Warning. User corruption at 45%."
Every time the black chalk announced the corruption level, cold shivers swam through Penny's body. Each time she heard how corrupted he was becoming, the less and less time she had to do something to save him. The corruption was going faster than she realized, and unless she got that chalk away from him..he'd be like this forever...
Yet..yet she could not just take it from him. Doing so risks spreading the corruption to herself. She would risk letting herself be used like a tool, swung around she was just a stick, and attack everyone around her, friend or foe. A zoner could take the chalk no problem, but the only zoner in here was Skrawl and he was injured.
She did draw, really quick, a medkit for him. He was confused as to why she did it as she just wasted a bit of the magic chalk. But she did not consider it wasting. Even though she had a little less to work with against Rudy, she couldn't let Skrawl bleed to death. The cut in his side was pretty deep.
Penny could draw a zoner to aid her, but...no she couldn't do that. Not with Rudy being like this. Penny would feel horrible if she created a zoner only for them to be swiftly killed by the possessed Rudy. That would be truly awful. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if that happened.
Penny was having a hard time holding out against Rudy. Her not being as experienced an artist was really showing here. She wasn't as quick with the chalk as Rudy, and found herself being boxed further against a corner. She didn't give up and she continued to fight back as best as she could, taking care not to cause any injuries to her friend.
She had managed to destroy his cannon with a harpoon, but that was quickly destroyed when Rudy sent a simple-minded robot after it. In relatiation, she drew her own robot, but was horrified at how quickly it was beatne. Rudy was still the superior one between the two when it came to creating robotic designs that worked.
As the robot advanced towards her, she tried to think of something that would stop it. Something did come to mind. If she could disrupt the robot's power source, she could stop it. Thinking fast, she jumped out of the way as the robot tried to fry her with the lasers. She drew a long, sharp sword. She rushed around behind the robot.
Hoping she won't miss, she threw the sword as soon as she saw an opeing for the power supply on the back. Just like she hoped, it sliced through, causing the robot to cease functioning. She didn't feel too bad doing this because the robot could always be revived later. That was the advantage of robots. Rebuild them, and they are fine. But regular zoners..that was a different story...
Rudy snarled at the loss of his robot. He began to swiftly draw something else. Penny couldn't tell what it was at first. But when he was close to being finished, her eyes widened in horror. It looked like a rocket launcher... Only instead of rockets, the edges were lined with electrical swords. If one touched her, she'd be both sliced and electrocuted at the same time...
Rudy took aim at her and fired. A sword sailed through the air, heading straight for Penny. She managed to get out of the way in time. She felt the sword whizz by her head, barely missing her by a hair. She watched as the sword slammed into the rock, getting halfway through before it became stuck.
She turned her head just in time to see another sword get shot at her. She screamed as she fell flat on her back, the only move she could think of to dodge this one. Just like the first one, this sword barely missed her. She could feel the crackle of electricity lightly graze her skin, and she heard the cracking sound of it getting caught in the wall behind her.
She looked over at Skrawl. He was in no condition to do much to help her. He had already tried to get up, but he would fall back down as the pain in his side clearly intensified. It didn't help that, in one of Rudy's previous attacks, he had been injured again. The robot had took aim at him at least once before she managed to stop it.
Penny quickly drew up a shield for herself. A large, thick mirror now blocked Rudy's path to her, but that did not stop the now insane boy from trying to attack her. He shot sword after sword at the shield, the cracks spreading further and further. And it was clear, to Penny, that he was not going to run out of swords any time soon.
Penny stood behind the shield, looking at Rudy in utter terror. Everything he was drawing, it was for lethal purposes. He showed no constraint anymore. And his drawings were all mostly more high tech stuff, such as the ice cannons, the electric swords, the robots, while she relied on more low tech things, such as the harpoon she used earlier to destroy the cannon. She didn't know how long she could keep this up. It was only a matter of time before Rudy drew something she couldn't stop...
She looked down at her hand. She stared at the small piece of magic chalk she had. There wasn't as much left. She had already used more than half of it. Once she ran out, she would not be able to fight Rudy anymore. She wouldn't be able to try to hold him back. And she and Skrawl would be completely defenseless against him.
But Rudy...he had all the black chalk he could want. He wasn't going to run out of ammo any time soon...
"Rudy...please...!" Penny cried as tears began to drip down her face. Even though Rudy refused to speak, she still tried to reach out to him. "Stop this! This...this isn't you! Please!"
Rudy paused for a moment. At first, it looked like she had gotten through to him. But then he raised up his black chalk. The glow trails in his eyes began to get a little smaller. Penny guessed that once the glow trails disappeared, if he was still holding the black chalk, he'd be permanently corrupted...
"Warning. User corruption at 65%."
Rudy began to draw.
"No... Rudy..." Penny begged.
She took a step back, holding the white chalk in her fist tightly. She watched, helpless, as Rudy drew another large weapon. This time, it wasn't a cannon, but instead a couple of large, black-colored grenades. Penny could see the shere cold radiating from them. Cold...the black chalk seemed to enjoy that element.
Rudy pulled his hand back and threw a grenade towards the shield. It clanged on the ground, then stopped as it barely touched the thick glass shield. Penny's eyes widened in horror as the object started to glow. She looked over at Rudy and shuddered at the twisted smile on his face.
The grenade exploded.
The sound bounced off the walls, causing both Penny and Skrawl to cry out, covering their heads in an attempt to block it out. For Penny, it did more than just hurt her ears. The shockwave swept in her direction, forcing her a bit away from the shield. She opened her eyes and saw that the shield was breaking up, and soon shattered, sending glass flying in her direction.
Penny was swept back and slammed against the wall. She cried out as her back hit the wall with great force. She tried to hold back her shouts of pain as a few pieces of broken glass cut into her body, slicing her up a little. She slide down slowly and soon she lay there in the corner of the cave room.
Penny slowly opened her eyes and looked up. Her eyes widened as Rudy started to walk up towards her, the evil smile still on his face. He was holding the remaining grenades in his hands. Penny slowly got up to her feet, trembling. She held out her white chalk, prepared to continue fighting for however long it would take.
"Warning. User corruption at 70%."